Key Points:

• CSPM automates detection and remediation of misconfigurations in cloud infrastructure.
• It's essential for businesses to adopt CSPM to prevent breaches and ensure regulatory compliance.
• CSPM is particularly relevant for IT and security managers, empowering them to safeguard business data effectively.

As businesses rely more heavily on cloud infrastructure for their operations, keeping any data stored in the cloud secure becomes crucially important.

With that growth in cloud adoption, there’s an equal growth in risk. A 2023 study showed that 39% of businesses they surveyed experienced a data breach in their cloud environment, up from 35% in the previous year.

This concerning trend highlights the urgent need for robust security measures to safeguard sensitive information. One such measure gaining prominence is Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM).

CSPM is a comprehensive approach to cloud security, one which automates security management across diverse cloud structures.

What is Cloud Security Posture Management?

As mentioned already, CSPM is a proactive approach to cloud security that takes advantage of automating security management across your cloud infrastructure. It involves continuous monitoring, detection, and remediation of misconfigurations across various cloud resources.

These misconfigurations - or mistakes in the setup of cloud systems - can leave businesses vulnerable to cyber threats and data breaches. In fact, around 23% of cloud security incidents can be attributed to these misconfigurations.

CSPM solutions help address this challenge by providing organisations with the tools needed to identify, assess, and rectify misconfigurations in real-time.

By leveraging CSPM, businesses can enhance their security posture, mitigate risks, and ensure compliance with regulatory standards, ultimately safeguarding their valuable data from potential threats.

Benefits of CSPM

Implementing Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) offers a myriad of benefits to organisations striving to fortify their cloud infrastructure. One significant advantage is that using CSPM can lead to an 80% reduction in security incidents caused by misconfigurations.

CSPM also gives businesses enhanced visibility into their cloud environments, allowing them to identify vulnerabilities and compliance gaps promptly. By continuously monitoring and assessing cloud configurations, organisations can proactively detect and remediate potential security risks before they escalate into full-fledged breaches.

It can also streamline your organisation’s compliance efforts, by automatically aligning cloud configurations with regulatory standards such as GDPR, PCI DSS, and HIPAA. This avoids costly fines and penalties, and enhances the overall trust and credibility of the organisation.

Additionally, CSPM aids in optimising resource utilisation and cost management by identifying unused or underutilised assets in the cloud infrastructure. This can lead to significant cost savings and operational efficiencies for businesses.

Who needs CSPM?

While CSPM is indispensable for all organisations, if your organisation is part of the 38% of small to medium sized businesses (SMB) that have zero dedicated cybersecurity IT employees, it’s even more crucial.

SMB’s are often constrained by limited resources and expertise, so by implementing CSPM, SMBs can leverage automated tools to bolster their cloud security posture without the need for dedicated cyber security staff.

CSPM streamlines security management processes, providing SMBs with the essential visibility, compliance monitoring, and threat detection capabilities needed to safeguard their valuable data assets in the cloud.

Furthermore, CSPM offers an affordable and scalable solution for SMBs, enabling them to achieve robust security measures and regulatory compliance without breaking the bank.

How to remain compliant with CSPM

Ensuring compliance with regulatory standards is a critical aspect of maintaining a comprehensive security posture in the cloud, and CSPM solutions play a pivotal role in helping organisations achieve and maintain compliance with various regulations such as GDPR, PCI DSS, HIPAA and more.

To remain compliant with CSPM, organisations should:

• Continuous monitoring: Implement continuous monitoring of cloud configurations and resources to identify and address compliance gaps in real-time.
• Automated remediation: Utilise automated remediation capabilities offered by CSPM solutions to rectify non-compliant configurations promptly.
• Policy enforcement: Enforce security policies and best practices across cloud environments to ensure alignment with regulatory requirements.
• Regular audits: Conduct regular audits and assessments to evaluate the effectiveness of CSPM controls and identify areas for improvement.

By adopting these practices and leveraging the capabilities of CSPM solutions, organisations can enhance their compliance posture and mitigate the risk of regulatory violations in the cloud.

CSPM and DSPM: What’s the difference?

Data Security Posture Management, or DSPM focuses on, as the name suggests, the safeguarding of sensitive data, such as discovery, classification and protection.

While both CSPM and DSPM are focused on enhancing your organisation’s security posture, an easy way to look at is this: CSPM secures the cloud environment itself, while DSPM focuses on protecting the data within it.

Both work very well as standalone solutions, and which one you need can depend on your organisation's individual needs, but using both in conjunction with each other gives you a security posture that has well protected and classified data within a secure cloud environment.

Read on here if you want to go on a deeper dive into the differences between CSPM and DSPM

Conclusion

As organisations increasingly rely on cloud services for their operations, the importance of comprehensive security measures cannot be overstated. CSPM is a vital tool for modern businesses looking to strengthen their cloud infrastructure against evolving cyber threats.

These solutions empower organisations to identify and rectify misconfigurations promptly, mitigate security risks, and ensure compliance with regulatory standards.

CSPM is also a cost-effective and scalable approach to cloud security, making it accessible to organisations of all sizes.

However, as the focus shifts more towards safeguarding sensitive data, it may be the case that your organisation needs to integrate a DSPM solution to ensure a comprehensive security approach that addresses infrastructure vulnerabilities, and data protection simultaneously

Looking to enhance your organisation’s data security and compliance efforts? Take the first step towards a stronger security posture and book your personalised demo with the premier DSPM solution, Metomic.